Electric cars

The EV1 traced its roots back to 1987 when General Motors and AeroVironment, an electric car specialist, combined forces to design a single-seat concept called the Sunraycer in a bid to win the inaugural World Solar Challenge – a trans-Australian race for solar vehicles. The Sunraycer project came about after GM’s Australian division pitched a […]

In the United Kingdom, electric vehicles were making headlines but, sadly, for all the wrong reasons. Although the much maligned Sinclair C5 is viewed as an object of derision in its home country, it was, until recently, one of the best-selling electric vehicles of all time. What is less well-known is that the C5 was

Bob King, of General Electric Global Research, had built his first battery car in 1972. Working with a Volkswagen chassis, a DC motor and lead-acid batteries, he built an electric car with a real-life range of 50 miles (80km). Since his daily commute to work was just 20 miles (32km) he could make it there

In 1979, the Middle East was thrown into chaos when Islamic revolution swept the Shah of Iran from power and replaced him with the Ayatollah Khomeini. Foreign oil-workers fled for their lives and Iran was forced to suspend oil exports, prompting a second oil crisis in less than ten years. Although Saudi Arabia and other

Back on earth, the 1973 oil crisis gave governments around the world a wake-up call, none more so than in America, the country that had embraced the car more whole-heartedly than any other. An oil embargo by the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), in retaliation against US support for Israel during the Yom

In 1967, the Governor of California, former actor turned politician Ronald Reagan, signed an act that established the California Air Resources Board, or CARB. The board’s job was to improve the state’s air quality by protecting the public from airborne contaminants. The automobile was directly in its sights. CARB’s other mandate was to examine and

Because of its size and population density, the UK was one of the first countries in the world to appreciate the damage unfettered automobile ownership could do to a small country. These fears came to a head in 1963 with the publication of the infamous Traffic in Towns report compiled by Professor Sir Colin Buchanan

Meanwhile, in Britain something of a silent revolution was taking place. A major post-war reconstruction phase saw new towns and prefabricated housing estates springing up across the country. To serve these concrete towns and housing developments, fleets of mobile shops and delivery vans were required. The Trojan Electrojan was a small battery-powered commercial van designed